Iraq’s dust storm to end soon
Dust storm hit Iraq. Social media image.
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The spokesperson of the Iraqi Meteorological Authority, Ammar al-Jabri, announced on Tuesday that the dust storm will gradually disappear starting from Tuesday afternoon, according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
The dust storm hits the country came after a series of similar dust storms affecting Iraq for about a month.
The storm led to closure of public administrations, postponement of exams in schools and universities and hospitalization of around four thousand people due to respiratory problems.
The last storm that covered Iraq with sands on May 5, caused more than five thousand people to seek medical treatment in hospitals due to suffocation.
In a scene that Iraqis started to get used to, layers of yellow sands covered buildings, cars parked in the streets and home furniture on Monday morning, while thick clouds of dust obscured vision except for a few meters.
On Monday afternoon, Baghdad International Airport decided to resume flights after they were suspended in the morning because the range of visibility reached only 300 meters. Najaf International Airport in the southern part of the country and Sulaimaniyah International Airport in northern Iraq also suspended flights on Monday.
Seven out of Iraq’s 18 governorates suspended the work in public administrations except health departments especially in the capital, Baghdad, Diwaniyah in the south, as well as Diyala and Kirkuk in the north.
Dust storms are repeated unprecedentedly in Iraq, and according to experts, these storms are formed because of climate change, lack of rainfall and desertification.
Iraq is considered one of the most five countries vulnerable to climate change and desertification due to increasing drought and high temperatures that exceed 50 degrees Celsius in summer.